After the 2010 release of
Best Night of My Life
,
Jamie Foxx
put his music career to the side for the longest period since 2005's
Unpredictable
. When he returned in 2014 with "Party Ain't a Party," a collaboration with
DJ Mustard
and
2 Chainz
, it was clear he was content to play the same role in R&B, as a partying loverman with winking punch lines, singing about shawties, booties, and twerking. The song didn't stick enough to make either the standard or the deluxe versions of
Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses
. Though follow-up release "Ain't My Fault" was relatively serious, it too was set in the club and failed to register on any Billboard chart, though it was placed on the deluxe edition. Some songs here, like the consecutive piano ballads "In Love by Now" and "Jumping Out the Window," do lack mischief, but
Foxx
otherwise continues to put forth quite an effort to prevent his audience's average age from reaching 30.
Kid Ink
Wale
, and
Chris Brown
are among his guests, and he snags producer
Boi-1da
for sleek tracks such as "Like a Drum," with lyrics that could just as easily be sung by someone half
's age. That material, as well as much of what surrounds it, is significantly less substantive than the singer's past work. The lighter, looser songs -- like a characteristically breezy contribution from
Pharrell Williams
, and a
Cook Classics
collaboration that immediately follows it -- happen to be the most memorable of all, even though they sound like the songs that required the least amount of thought to make. [A Deluxe Edition added three bonus tracks.] ~ Andy Kellman